Our documents

Board Meeting 17-01-2018

Our Board meets bi-monthly in public. These meetings are another opportunity for you to find out about the work we are doing, share your experiences of health or social care services and get involved.

If you have any questions for our Board, you can ask them at this meeting. Please let us know your questions by Monday, 15 January if you want an answer on the day. If we can not answer your question at this meeting, we will make sure we get an answer for you afterwards.

At this meeting we will be hearing from Paul Marshall, Cambridgeshire Sector Lead for the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST).

He will be talking about the new Ambulance Response Programme that EEAST have introduced to help them manage the challenges of providing both emergency and non-emergency transport.

We may take photos or film parts of our public meetings. Please tell us if you do not want to be photographed or filmed. Visitors to our meetings are welcome to take their own photos or recordings and share them online. However, we ask that you do not film or photograph people who have not given their permission to be filmed or photographed.

Board Meeting 15-11-2017

At this meeting we will be talking about our Accessible Information as Standard report, published 8 November 2017.

People have told us that they are not always being offered accessible information as standard when they use health and care services even though this is the law. Our new report shares some local people's experiences, particularly those in the local Deaf community, and calls for better access to services for people with a communication need.

There will be British Sign Language Interpreters (BSL) at this meeting. Please let us know if you have any other communication access needs.

Pick up a copy of our new report - also available in BSL, Braille, large print, audio and easy read.

Our Board meets bi-monthly in public. These meetings are another opportunity for you to find out about the work we are doing, share your experiences of health or social care services and get involved.

If you have any questions for our Board, you can ask them at this meeting. Please let us know your questions by Monday, 13 November if you want an answer on the day. If we can not answer your question at this meeting, we will make sure we get an answer for you afterwards.

Register of Interests September 2017

Keneydon House - visited Tuesday, 18 July 2017

Posted on 07/09/2017

Our volunteers visited Keneydon House in Whittlesey as part of our care home food project to find our about the residents' experiences of food and drink in the home.

This home specialises in dementia care for older people. Fourteen of the residents are in the late stages of dementia. The team chatted with three residents, four members of staff, the Manager and a regular visitor at Keneydon House on 18 July 2017.

After our visit, we made the following suggestions to improve care in the home:

Introducing a picture menu to encourage residents to get involved in making daily choices.

Having a member of staff in the dining room with the residents to encourage eating and socialising.

Using plate covers to protect and keep food warm in transit, especially as staff were often waylaid.

As a result of this visit, the home has started using plate covers to keep the food warm. They have also started a folder with pictures of the meals for residents.

Come to our first Board Meeting in Peterborough.

Our Board meets bi-monthly in public. These meetings are another opportunity for you to find out about the work we are doing, share your experiences of health or social care services and get involved.

At this meeting, our Directors will hear from Oliver Hayward, Assistant Director of People Commissioning and Commercial Operations at Peterborough City Council. He will be talking about the work being done by our county and city councils to develop services for people and communities across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. A number of key staff members now work in the same role across both Cambridgeshire County and Peterborough City Councils. Services include: adult social care, children and families' services, education, community and safety, and commissioning.

If you have any questions for our Board then you can ask them at this meeting. Please let us have any questions by Monday 11 September so we can answer them on the day. If we can not answer your question at this meeting then we will make sure we get an answer for you afterwards.

Audited Accounts April 2016 - March 2017

Register of Interests July 2017

Rheola Care Centre - visited on 25 May 2017

Posted on 05/07/2017

Residents told us they were given a choice of meals for breakfast, lunch and tea, and they could ask for drinks and snacks at any time.

The menu runs four-weekly and is designed with pictures and words. This helps residents with speech or language difficulties or memory problems understand the options available. Residents can vary the times of their meals and where they take them.

Our volunteer visitors saw staff being responsive to the needs of residents, chatting with them and giving help where it was needed.

Elizabeth Edgar, the home's Manager, said 'We are pleased with how the report reads and we found your visit very useful, it’s always good to have others look at a service to gain new ideas.'

Annual General Meeting 05-07-2017

Hear from Stephen Posey, the CEO of Papworth Hospital, about their planned move to the Cambridge Biomedical Centre.

Hear about and help celebrate our achievements in 2016-17 as Healthwatch Cambridgeshire. We will be presenting our draft annual accounts and report. We will also present the Healthwatch Peterborough annual accounts and report.

Meet some of our new Directors, joining from Healthwatch Peterborough, and find out about the opportunities for us as a merged Healthwatch for all of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

There will be an opportunity to ask your questions.

The meeting is in public and everyone is welcome. It will be followed by a business meeting which you are also welcome to stay for.

Gifts & Hospitality Register May 2017

Being Happy, Being Me report published in Mental Health Awareness Week

Posted on 09/05/2017

New report looks at young people’s attitudes and understanding of mental health in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

Young people tell us what they think about the language that is used to describe mental health, what their experiences of services have been and how they would like to get help if they need it. The Being Happy, Being Me project has been undertaken to help local commissioners re-design young people's mental health services.

We found that young people can be confused about the words we use to describe mental health and well-being. Words like thriving and resilience were not commonly understood. More needs to be done to address issues around stigma and encourage young people to understand that mental health is something we all have and need to nurture.

As part of our project, we spoke to over 500 young people at four secondary schools in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Around one in seven of the young people who shared their thoughts with us told us that they have had experience of using mental health services. They also shared with us some of the things that would help make mental health support work well for them.

This project is part of a programme of work with young people to help local health and care commissioners understand what will help young people keep emotionally well and cope with difficulties in life.

It was funded by Cambridgeshire County Council, Peterborough City Council and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group. They are working together to develop a new way of providing mental health care for young people, called ‘I-THRIVE’.

Come to our first Board Meeting as a combined Healthwatch for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Our Board meets bi-monthly in public. These meetings are another opportunity for you to find out about the work we are doing, share your experiences of health or social care services and get involved.

On 1st April 2017, we combined to become Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The current Board of Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough has seven members who were all previously Non-Executive Directors of Healthwatch Cambridgeshire. They are currently being advised by the Shadow Board of Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, who will be attending meetings from April 2017. The Shadow Board includes Directors of the Peterborough Patient and Public Involvement Network Community Interest Company (CIC).

The Peterborough CIC will be closing down by the end of June 2017. After this point, the Directors of Peterborough CIC will be elected to join the Board of Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

If you have any questions for our Board, you can ask them at this meeting. Please let us know your questions by Tues 2nd May if you want an answer on the day. If we can not answer your question at this meeting, we will make sure we get an answer for you afterwards.

Board Meeting 15-03-17

We will welcome David Astley, Independent Chair of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Sustainability and Transformation Programme (STP) Executive team. He will be updating our Board on the development of the local STP.

Our Board will be discussing and making a formal decision on the new governance arrangements for a combined Healthwatch for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Representatives of Healthwatch Peterborough will also be attending.

If you have any questions for our Board, you can ask them at this meeting. Please let us know your questions by Monday 13th March if you want an answer on the day. If we can not answer your question at this meeting, we will make sure we get an answer for you afterwards.

Gifts and Hospitality Register February 2017

‘Staff are helpful and caring’. That's the main message people told us when we visited Addenbrooke's Hospital in early December.

We spoke to more than 50 people on two separate visits to the hospital, spending time in both the adult and children's areas of the Emergency Department, as well as the Ambulatory Care Unit and the Clinical Decision Unit. The visits were done using our power to Enter and View. This is Healthwatch's legal right to visit places that provide publicly funded health or care, to see and hear how people experience those services.

Our report makes seven recommendations to the hospital to improve care; these are based on what we observed and what patients told us about their experiences. These recommendations have been accepted by the hospital, who have developed an action plan to address them. This includes:

Reminding staff about the importance of ensuring people’s privacy and dignity, after we told them about patients not being adequately covered up whilst they were waiting on trolleys in the X-ray department.

Initiating extra cleaning checks at busy times of day after we spotted some areas where cleaning needed to be improved.

Asking staff to update waiting screen times every hour, so people know how long their wait is likely to be. They are also investigating adding another screen in the main waiting room.

We will check with the hospital again in six-months’ time, to see what progress they have made against our recommendations.

Board Meeting 18-01-17

Posted on 10/01/2017

You are welcome to attend this meeting which will be held in public 7pm - 9pm, Wednesday 18 January at The Meadows Community Centre, 1 St Catharine’s Road, Cambridge, CB4 3XJ

If you have any questions for our Board you can ask them at this meeting. Please let us know your questions by Monday 16th January if you want an answer on the day. If we can not answer your question at this meeting, we will make sure we get an answer for you afterwards.

Gifts & Hospitality Register January 2017

Hospital staff are friendly but the Emergency Department (ED) can be very busy and patients aren’t always getting the privacy they need.

In October, our volunteers made two visits to the ED at Hinchingbrooke Hospital to listen to local people’s experiences. The visits were ‘unannounced’ and were done using our power to Enter and View. This is Healthwatch's legal right to visit places that provide publicly funded health or care, to see and hear how people experience those services.

Our report makes eleven recommendations to improve care; these are based on what we observed and what 64 patients told us about their experiences. These recommendations have been accepted by the Trust who have developed an action plan to address them.

Register of Interests November 2016

Gifts & Hospitality Register October 2016

Board Meeting 09-11-16

You are welcome to attend this meeting which will be held in public 7pm - 9pm, Wednesday 9 November at the Maple Centre, 6 Oak Drive, Huntingdon, PE29 7HN.

Dr Liz Robin, Director of Public Health at Cambridgeshire County Council, is our speaker and will update the Board on the work of Public Health and the local priorities.

If you have any questions for our Board or speaker then you can ask them at this meeting. Please try to tell us your questions by Monday 7th November or we may not be able to answer them on the day. If we cannot answer your questions at the meeting, we will make sure we get an answer for you afterwards

Papers will be available from the website one week before the meeting.

Board Meeting 14-09-16

Posted on 06/09/2016

You are welcome to attend this meeting which will be held in public 7pm - 9pm at The Meadows Community Centre, Room 2, 1 St Catherine’s Road, CAMBRIDGE, CB4 3XJ.

David Archer, Chief Executive, Herts Urgent Care, will update the Board on NHS 111 and Out of Hours urgent care services. Herts Urgent Care are the new integrated NHS 111 and GP Out of Hours provider for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

If you have any questions for our Board or speaker, you can ask them at this meeting. Please try to tell us your questions by Sunday 18th September or we may not be able to answer them on the day. If we cannot answer your questions at the meeting, we will make sure we get an answer for you afterwards.